Connecting with nature in London
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1204 Londoners have responded | 09/01/2025 - 16/02/2025
Updates
Connecting with nature in London update
Updated: 27 June 2025
Earlier this year, almost 1,200 of you had your say on waterways and natural spaces, and how you enjoy London’s great outdoors.
Thank you for your thoughtful contributions – your insights will guide our continuing efforts to reinforce the relationship between Londoners and nature.
Investing in green space
Green Roots Fund
The Mayor launched the Green Roots Fund at the start of London Climate Action Week (21-29 June 2025). This £12m fund will support the creation and improvement of London’s green and blue spaces – including parks, community gardens, rivers, and wetlands. The fund will also address social injustice by empowering communities to increase their access to green or blue space.
Seeds giveaway
On 23 June, volunteers handed out 12,000 seed packets to Londoners at 12 stations in areas that have less access to green space. This aimed to encourage Londoners to create habitats and food sources to benefit nature.
London Climate Action Week Youth Summit
Sowing the seeds of climate and nature care is vital to the future of London’s green and blue spaces. The Mayor of London partnered with Earth Minutes and the Zoological Society London (ZSL) to host the first ever London Climate Action Week Youth Summit on 26 June. This event brought together over 150 young changemakers to explore how young Londoners can take climate and nature action in the city.
You said, we did
Waterways matter to you: In fact, 78% of you told us in our survey that you are interested in walking along London’s waterways – the most popular activity.
- Increasing access to our waterways is a priority for London's Clean and Healthy Waterways Plan, which the Mayor is developing with partners.
Most of you feel connected to nature: 75% of you said that you feel fairly or very connected to nature. This was reflected in the huge number of nature-related activities people reported already being involved in.
- How we support the 25% who don’t feel connected to nature is the focus of our new Green Roots programme.
Next steps
City Hall’s Environment team is continuing to develop further strands of the Green Roots programme. They want to ensure that Londoners can play an active part in transforming their local spaces, and support nature to thrive here.
The team particularly wish to address social inequality. Research shows that Black, Asian and minority ethnic Londoners are more than twice as likely as other groups to live in an area lacking green space. In addition, over one in five London households does not have access to a garden.
We’ll keep you posted on what’s happening next and how you can get involved.